South Bend residents say gunfire no longer surprises

Sounds of shots said to be common in some neighborhoods.

Sounds of shots said to be common in some neighborhoods.

September 28, 2008|By ERIN BLASKO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- There's a special spot in Michael Elliott's backyard where the light from the alley doesn't reach. There, on quiet evenings, he can hear the crickets chirping in the brush, the cars passing on Lincoln Way West -- and, increasingly, the sound of gunfire echoing through the neighborhood. It's an urban symphony that might startle some but to Elliott is simply background music. "It (gunfire) used to shock me, it really did," Elliott said recently from the back patio of his home on Prast Boulevard on the city's west side, where he and his wife have lived for 15 years. "But anymore ... it just seems commonplace." Elliott, who said he hears gunfire about twice a week, compared the experience to living next to train tracks. "After a while," he said, "you don't hear the train anymore." Elliott and Susan Adamek, another South Bend resident, spoke to a Tribune reporter about gunfire in the city and what can be done about it. Several others confirmed the problem but did not wish to speak on the record for fear of becoming targets. Like Elliott, Adamek, who lives on North Cleveland Avenue near Muessel Primary Center, said she has become accustomed to the sound of gunfire. The artist and former director of the LaSalle Area Neighborhood Partnership center has developed a habit of counting the shots when she hears them. "I automatically wake up and do a rhythm thing," she said recently from a rocking chair on her enclosed front porch, bobbing her head in time to an imaginary burst of gunfire. Although Adamek has lived in Detroit, Chicago and other urban areas, "I've never heard as many shots as I've heard here," she said. In June, she said, she and her husband were roused by gunfire almost nightly. But the scariest moment, Adamek said, came about two years ago. She was chatting with a neighbor as school was letting out, and a boy ran past with a gun in his hand, followed by a speeding car. "The people in the car were shooting," she said. "And what really freaked me out, they were laughing and smiling." No one was hit, Adamek said, but "it scared the daylights out of me." Adamek said she and her husband planned to move last year, just as the housing market took a dive. As soon as it recovers, she said, they're leaving. But Elliott is staying put -- for now. An inexact science Determining how many shots are fired in the city in any given period of time is, at best, an inexact science, South Bend police spokesman Capt. Phil Trent said. According to Trent, calls for shots fired are grouped with other disturbance calls involving weapons, making it difficult to track them with any degree of reliability. Also, he said, when a person fires a gun in the city, anyone within earshot is liable to report it, and each report is recorded separately, meaning the number of reports often exceeds the number of actual incidents. And then some people -- both Elliott and Adamek insisted not them -- mistake gunfire for other noises, such as fireworks, or report it in an attempt to "short-circuit" the department's dispatch system. "When someone wants police presence in their neighborhood ... they use 'shots fired' to get police to respond faster," Trent explained. Trent estimated that only about 25 percent of all reports of shots fired are legitimate. Most are received on weekends and holidays, he said, and more in the summer than other seasons. Asked what areas of the city have the most gunfire, Trent simply said those with the highest crime rates and concentrations of population. Why? People fire weapons in the city for several reasons, Trent said, and not always with a target in mind. Some shots are fired as warnings, he said, and some in celebration. Others are intended for victims but miss -- or hit unintended targets. "One guy was shooting for no other reason than to discharge a firearm," Trent recalled. "It was entertainment for him." When gunfire is reported, Trent said, standard response is to send two squad cars to investigate. But if it is believed the incident is still unfolding, or that someone has been hit, more units are sent, possibly with lights and sirens. In his experience, Elliott said, it is rare that gunfire is followed by police sirens. When it is, he figures someone has been hit. Adamek said police often drive by after shots are fired, sometimes searching the neighborhood with a spotlight. Both said they don't blame police. "I don't know what the police can do unless they happen to be physically in the area" when shots are fired, Elliott said. Trent agreed it's difficult for police to catch someone discharging a firearm in the city. "When we do catch someone involved in a gun crime, we've got the (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)," Trent said, "and federal charges can be brought." Those charges apply to career criminals, Trent said, and result in substantially longer prison sentences.